A TAPESTRY OF CARING: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE AND MEANING OF CARING WITHIN NURSE STUDENT/FACULTY RELATIONSHIP (NURSING EDUCATION, CURRICULUM).
Contributors: Wayne State University.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 296
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Curriculum and Instruction.; Education, Higher.
Description: The discipline of nursing is committed to the development of caring knowledge. One way to construct caring knowledge is living caring experiences. The purpose of this study was to evolve a structural description of the lived experience and meaning of caring within a student/faculty relationship from a student perspective.

The phenomenological method was used and included: turning to the nature of lived experience; existential investigation; phenomenological reflection/analysis; and phenomenological writing. The existential investigation involved interviewing twelve senior undergraduate students representing both genders, diverse ages and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Interviews were taped and transcribed verbatim. Phenomenological reflection/analysis entailed reading the text of each transcript as a whole to capture its fundamental meaning and then performing a detailed reading, isolating and highlighting significant thematic statements. Both universal and subthemes were discerned from the statements and from the themes emerged the essential structure of the lived experiences of caring.

The structure of the lived experiences of caring reflected: (a) a caring consciousness; (b) reciprocal relational dimensions; and (c) enrichment/transformation. Both faculty and students brought a caring consciousness to the relationship which included parallel themes of commitment/investment and receptivity. The caring consciousness was expressed through the reciprocal relational dimensions of knowing, respecting, trusting, and helping. Both students and faculty experienced enrichment/transformation from the relationship. Transformation occurred as a result of mutual inclusion and reciprocity and it reaffirmed and heightened their caring consciousness for future relationships.

Metathemes of safety, energy, and time formed an environmental phenomenon which surrounded the caring experiences. Caring required a conscious effort, feelings of security, and took time. There were variations on the themes relating to the student's gender, age, and racial/ethnic background which reflected differing orientations to caring and emphasis on themes. Phenomenological writing included linguistic transformation of the data into an exhaustive description which was shared with the student participants for their validation and correction. The structure of the lived experiences of caring was depicted through the metaphor of a tapestry. The findings will contribute to the reconceptualization of nursing education based on an ethic of caring.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-02, Section: B, page: 0739.

Thesis (PH.D.)--WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY, 1994.

School code: 0254.